Hong Kong Land Research
“The rich have a thousand hectares of land while the poor have no place to stand.”
Introduction
Through continuous cultivation in land research, we have made our way into becoming an indispensable voice in Hong Kong’s civil society.
We dispelled the myth of land supply shortage, made public different kinds of land information, looked into the root causes of land system, delved into land development controversies and suggested a way out, efforts of which can be seen in our research output in different forms. However, sometimes overlooked are those which stand behind these outputs: our volunteers’ collective efforts and researchers’ continuous exploration and innovation with the help of various field observations, investigations, tools, discussions and activities, which altogether made possible these research outputs.
Grounded on our well-established research, we hope to make new breakthroughs in land issues.
Research Highlights
- Uncover vested interest – investigate land speculation by local and Chinese developers and shatter village thugs collusion by revealing vested interest in development projects.
- Make hidden information public – create an open database of land resources where the usually underused land resources including brownfields, government land, and idle land are pinpointed and continuously updated.
- Reconceptualize land systems – give an all-encompassing review of and solutions to land leasing, concessional leases, finances and resource allocation of land, and the decision-making mechanism of land planning.
- Follow up on major development controversies – continuously scrutinize policies and plans like “Lantau Tomorrow Vision”, “Land Resumption Ordinance”, “Land Sharing Scheme”, brownfield policies; arrange activities in which public participation can effect changes, and unveil any peculiarities in Hong Kong-China cross-border planning.
- Conjure up a vision of urban planning – propose alternative land development schemes and advocate sustainable development.
Smashed the myth that “Hong Kong has a huge population on very scarce land”, and confirmed that the land problem in Hong Kong is caused by uneven distribution instead of inadequate supply
Published and distributed over 10,000 Your Real Choice: Honest Consultation on Land Supply booklets to provide accurate land information to the community
Discovered that there are over 1,000 hectares of brownfield sites and underused portions of government land in Hong Kong. These serve as strong supporting evidence in arguments against reclamation
Past Research Output
“Myth and Reality: Land Problem in Hong Kong”
《不是土地供應：香港土地問題的迷思與真象》
March 2013
“A Study on the Development Potential of Brownfield in the New Territories”
《合棕連橫：新界棕土發展潛力研究》
March 2018
“Your Real Choice: Honest Consultation on Land Supply”
《未來土地發展真實選項：好誠實研究及公眾諮詢》
May 2018
“Missing Option: Research on Temporary Use and Vacant Government Land in Hong Kong”
《隱藏選項：香港臨時使用及閒置官地研究》
August 2018
Fundraising target
Future Research Target
Conduct comprehensive research on the hidden government land, brownfields, privileged land, abandoned land, land for small house development, and leased land to examine the current state, and the impact of the “public-private partnership” development models
Build up an open land database to break the monopoly of land information enjoyed by the government
Continue to monitor the development process and financial feasibility of infrastructure projects, as well as possible benefit transfers and the impact on the layout of Hong Kong and China of the Lantau Tomorrow Vision proposal
Investigate land development priorities, comparing which types of land should be developed first and which should be retained
Organize historical archives to figure out the root of the land problem and directions of reform
Article Released
| Published Date | Media | Articles (Chinese Only) |
|---|---|---|
| 23 January 2017 | Mingpao | 楊夏至：邁向全面「公私合營化」的都市 |
| 12 February 2018 | Apple Daily | 黃肇鴻：讓粉嶺高球場再次貢獻香港 |
| 29 April 2018 | Apple Daily | 陳劍青：小明之死 |
| 30 April 2018 | CitizenNews | 林芷筠：「土地大辯論」－黃遠輝口中的「沒有前設」 |